Movie Reviews

This Spaghetti Needs Pepto Bismol

John A Lee III | San Antonio, TX | 11/05/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Don't expect a comedy in the vein of TRINITY or THEY CALL ME TRINITY. If you do, you are in for a fall. Both of those were silly but redeemed themselves by being entertaining. This one has no such pretensions. It is merely boring.

The story concerns a corrupt mining company out to cheat the local town's folk out of their claims. They do this through intimidation and violence. When a couple of friends get hold of a claim, they put together a plan to secure that claim and those of the rest of the town from the bad guys. To do this, they enlist the aide of a traveling circus to serve as a distraction. They yell, they fight, they wrestle, they shoot and then they do it some more. Its not very exciting cinema.

This production is made worse by the DVD. I suspect that the original film was a rather low budget affair. The DVD, however, is of such low quality that who could really tell? The edges are clipped off, the transfer is grainy and the effect is of someone holding a hidden handycam in a theater trying to bootleg it. IT was not worth the effort.

Spaghetti westerns can be fun. This one, however, needs the Pepto Bismol right from the beginning to drive off the heartburn."

Spaghetti, Meatballs and Apple Pie

L. Shirley | fountain valley, ca United States | 04/23/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Boot Hill" from 1969 is a spaghetti western, with a mix of American and Italian actors. A traveling circus becomes involved with some really bad hombres when they save the life of the man who is after the bandits. But when the bad guys claim the life of one of their own performers, they team up with the hero to help stop the desperados in their tracks. Lots of fun! The film stars Terrence Hill and Woody Strode and is also known as " Boot Hill:Trinity Rides Again". Also look for Victor Buono, Bud Spencer and Lionel Stander. In color directed by Giuseppe Colizzi.

This film may also be found on Platinum Disc's Great American Western series. This one is included on the single disc of Volume 13 in the series, along with a great documnetary on "Gunfighters", "My Outlaw Brother"(1951), with Mickey Rooney and Robert Stack, and "The Gun and The Pulpit", from 1974 starring Marjoe Gortner and a great cast. Volume 13 may also be purchased as part of Volume 2 of the larger sets(10 discs/40 films). The DVDs in this series are not pristeen. There are scratches and graineyness, especially in the older films, and the color films are usually pretty dated. All are enhanced with DD5.1 sound, and if you are a western lover, you really can't go wrong for the price.

Check em out..Sadlle Up and Happy Trails...Laurie"

Misunderstood and unfairly mangled movie

Wrath-of-the-Righteo | 06/06/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Poor ol' BOOT HILL doesn't have the best reputation among fans of sphaghetti-westerns, but it's not entirely the movie's fault. While it sure has lots of flaws and is on-par with later efforts of the genre (or later efforts of Bud & Terence), fans of the genre could easily squeeze some joy out of this.Seems like most people judge this movie on it's alternate title TRINITY RIDES AGAIN. This doesn't make sense at all since it was made BEFORE anybody thought of the two later TRINITY movies and has close to zero similarities to them. What all three have in common is of course the presence of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill team up to help (more or less for the completely wrong reasons) the poor against the big bad opressors, in this case some evil gold-mining company. BOOT HILL is a very disjointed movie, it starts off as a serious and mean spirited italo-western and ends up in the usual TRINITY-style with the two legends beating up as many badguys as possible. The overall disjointedness is the pictures biggest fault, if you can look over it, you'll find some things to like here (if you are a fan of the genre):The scenery and photography is excellent and the movie has some real highlights of scenes just watch Terence's encountering with one of his followers in a big, stonhedge-like circle of stones. The chemistry between him and the not-quite-as-bully Spencer works for the picture, even if Bud doesn't show up until the movie is half over. The circus-element is quite likeable too, I really could relate to the revenge-motive one character carries throughout the movie. Until the end, BOOT HILL doesn't offer much of the usual Hill-Spencer-Humor which is possibly for the better, the movie is at it's strongest when things are played serious. So yes, this isn't one of the best movies (or even the best italo-westerns) ever made, but it sure has alot going for it. Forgive BOOT HILL becoming a complete suckfest in the last 15 minutes and see it as it is. This is not a "trinity" movie and was never intended to be, so keep that in mind!"

TERRIBLE

Wrath-of-the-Righteo | 08/13/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"THIS IS THE WORST BUD AND TERENCE MOVIE NEXT TO BLACKIE THE PIRATE"

OK genre piece for completists of Spencer/Hill films

Wrath-of-the-Righteo | 02/23/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"One of the three "Cat Stevens" films that immediately preceded the breakthrough "Trinity" films, Terence Hill and Bud Spencer are not yet in the full characters they are famous for. The film is interesting mainly for the glimpses of how the Trinity/Bambino characters were developed. Do not expect comedy, although there are a couple moments of it. Directing OK but film shows its age and circus scenario will be too exotic for many tastes. Some viewers will find the film more dull than moody or stylish (as the director seemed to intend). Film was pretty well received by audiences in the late 1960s, according to the Hollywood Reporter."